Tedious practice and experience are required in order to become proficient at games that require the use of a hand paddle, such as table tennis. Although practice and experience are part of the challenge that people look for in the game, beginners often become frustrated and impatient with the conventional paddle's playablility. Similarly, average and advanced players often find the construction of the conventional paddle restricting.
Player limitations are partly due to the handle of a conventional paddle. Players often have difficulty gripping the conventional paddle handle correctly; consequently not being able to play the game successfully. New hands on a conventional table tennis paddle tend to slide down from the proper grip position to one in which they are holding the paddle near its end. This causes improper leverage and in turn, can cause inaccurate shots.
In order to make sound strokes with conventional paddles, the racquet must be properly gripped. Compared to all racquet sports, table tennis is played with the smallest ball and racquet, and has the smallest target. Therefore, the angle at which the paddle is presented to the ball, during the swing, must be precise. Any minor deviation from the correct grip on the paddle can cause gross errors in shotmaking and errors in form.
Players often find that they must adjust their racquet grip constantly in order to change from a forehand shot to a backhand shot and vice versa. By continually adjusting the grip of the racquet, players steadily lose some control. Consequently, shotmaking becomes increasingly difficult.
Using the handle to orient the paddle to meet the ball precisely in the right place and at the right time is very difficult. The significant flaw in the conventional paddle design is the external racquet handle; its awkwardness has limited the amount of players who can play the game successfully and well.
It has been recognized that two similar paddles interconnected, by spacers, and encompassing the hand of the player, should increase the enjoyment of, and the number who, may enjoy table tennis. Such a paddle presents the player with an almost unlimited assortment of strokes. The elimination of the conventional paddle's handle allows the hand of the player to act almost instinctively in orienting the paddle to meet the ball. Use of such a paddle provides a natural feeling when in use and creates a quicker and more exciting game. Using one's arm instead of a racquet handle adds speed and control to the strokes and shots. The paired striking panels increase the player's dexterity and quicken the player's response time. See, e.g., Ogden, U.S. Pat. No. 1,930,281.
Since Ogden, however, a variety of paddles have been developed to improve upon the game by eliminating the cumbersome handle of the conventional paddle. To compensate for the eliminated handle, some disclosures illustrate a second paddle a sufficient distance apart from the first, at an interval sufficient to accept a player's hand between them. See Butera, U.S. Pat. No. 2,987,316; Castelli, U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,692.
There are a variety of methods created to secure the player's hand to the inclined or parallel surfaces. Ogden, U.S. Pat. No. 1,930,281 and Castelli, U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,692 each disclose two paddles with a rigid central handle or post located in between the parallel striking surfaces. The Castelli post is perpendicular to the striking panels and affords a means for securing the panels. In contrast, the Ogden paddles are supported by stays which also hold the handle parallel and equidistant from the striking surfaces.
Others have tried to secure the hand in place by adjusting the size of the paddles or their distance from one another, or both, as follows: Castelli, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 257,867 (pointed oval); Wagner, Netherlands Pat. No. 76-05224 (bat or striker entirely enclosing player's hand); Castelli, Great Britain Pat. No. 2,030,871 (sheath or mitten masking greater part of palm and back of player's hand); Kovar, Germany Pat. No. 156,982 (rectangular paddles with extensions for player's wrist).
Some disclosures change the texture of the inside gripping, flat surface for the purpose of preventing the paddle from slipping off the hand during play. Butera, U.S. Pat. No. 2,987,316, for example, describes inside surfaces of the panels which may be coated with a non-skid material to assist in this gripping function.
Alternatively, the prior art discloses an assortment of means to secure the player's hand to the striking surfaces. Among the disclosures include finger straps, crisscrossed hand straps, and wrist straps. See German Pat. No. 156,982; French Pat. No. 2,525,480; Netherlands Pat. No. 76-05224. Others disclose ribs fitted for finger tips, additional flat, textured surfaces, and contoured palm and finger support regions. See Netherlands Pat. No. 76-05224; Castelli, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 256,939; Nakievell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,774. However, none of these patented designs has ever become commercially successful.
Less restrictive, natural fitting sporting equipment can assist a player's ability to perfect eye-hand coordination. Handles, posts, straps, and ribs can inhibit a player's natural racquet swing. In baseball, for example, a player must align the center of his or her hand precisely with the ball. Similarly, table tennis requires the player to make his or her best efforts to contact the center or "sweet spot" of the racquet. Thus, a two-sided paddle where the striking surfaces are not parallel to one another or centered with the center of the player's hand increases the difficulty of eye-hand coordination.
Thus, there remains a need for an improved hand paddle where the striking surfaces are separated apart in parallel alignment and the player's hand lays substantially flat and is comfortably secured between two parallel striking surfaces. The present invention provides one construction to satisfy this need.